Trumpet Blues: The Life of Harry James

Rating:
Summary: UNDERRATED BY SOME CRITICS, TOPS WITH HIS PEERS !
Review: I originally bought this book when it came out in 1999 and actually spoke with Mr. Peter Levinson putting him on to several contacts when the book was in preparation. I have not chosen to send in my review until now after having reread the book several times.

Harry James was a phenomenon in the music world: a musician who reached the pinnacle of success in record sales, popularity with the masses, stardom in the glory days of Hollywood musicals and longevity in the big band arena long after the hay days of the big bands. He was a child prodigy, mastering his instrument, the trumpet, at a very early age of fourteen. In two years he was on the road with territory bands and at twenty he was leading the top big band trumpet section in the country with the Benny Goodman band. When he formed his own band at twenty three he already had a body of recorded jazz work equal to all the trumpet giants of his era. He had the blues soul of a Louis Armstrong, Mugsy Spanier and Bix Beiderbecke but because he reached real commercial stardom based on commercial ballads, and, he was WHITE, many of the so called jazz critics of the day demeaned his jazz work and dismissed all his later work. If one traverses the jazz shelves of the local libraries one will be hard pressed to find many references to Harry James listed among the elite jazz icons in any number of jazz histories as reviewed by current so-called jazz critics. These wet behind the ears critics continue to believe you have to be BLACK to have any credibility in jazz. Similarly, one does not see the name of Stan Kenton or Artie Shaw mentioned as much or ever as one sees the names of Basie, Fletcher Henderson or Chick Webb. The truth is, as Gunther Schuller, the noted music historian has noted, Harry James took the jazz trumpet to a new level never before reached in his era or even after. He HAD the blues soul of Louis Armstrong and others but possessed the brilliant and unsurpassed technique of a Rafael Mendez, that earlier giants like Armstrong, Spanier and Beiderbecke could only have dreamed about. Couple that with his turn to hit commercial instrumental-vocal ballads and moderate swing in the early '40's and the subsequent financial rewards, the critics literally turned on Harry James. That is especially disheartening in light of the body of commercial junk Armstrong recorded for literally the last twenty five years of his life and even Miles Davis, with his excursions into so-called jazz rock and fusion, but they never got the critical arrows fired at them as did James.

The truth is that Harry James was the number one icon to all the trumpet stars who rose with him and for decades after, such diverse talents as Maynard Ferguson, Clifford Brown, Doc Severinsen, Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, Arturo Sandoval, Wynton Marsallis and dozens of others. The "real" critics like Schuller, Leonard Feather and George Simon all agree that Harry James was truly a one and only jazz-big band-trumpet "super star". I first heard him at age seven when an older cousin played Harry's hit recording of "The Flight Of The Bumblebee" for me. I was dazzled and had my parents start me on the trumpet. He was my idol then and some fifty plus years later still is.

Rating:
Summary: UNDERRATED BY SOME CRITICS, TOPS WITH HIS PEERS !
Review: I originally bought this book when it came out in 1999 and actually spoke with Mr. Peter Levinson putting him on to several contacts when the book was in preparation. I have not chosen to send in my review until now after having reread the book several times.

Harry James was a phenomenon in the music world: a musician who reached the pinnacle of success in record sales, popularity with the masses, stardom in the glory days of Hollywood musicals and longevity in the big band arena long after the hay days of the big bands. He was a child prodigy, mastering his instrument, the trumpet, at a very early age of fourteen. In two years he was on the road with territory bands and at twenty he was leading the top big band trumpet section in the country with the Benny Goodman band. When he formed his own band at twenty three he already had a body of recorded jazz work equal to all the trumpet giants of his era. He had the blues soul of a Louis Armstrong, Mugsy Spanier and Bix Beiderbecke but because he reached real commercial stardom based on commercial ballads, and, he was WHITE, many of the so called jazz critics of the day demeaned his jazz work and dismissed all his later work. If one traverses the jazz shelves of the local libraries one will be hard pressed to find many references to Harry James listed among the elite jazz icons in any number of jazz histories as reviewed by current so-called jazz critics. These wet behind the ears critics continue to believe you have to be BLACK to have any credibility in jazz. Similarly, one does not see the name of Stan Kenton or Artie Shaw mentioned as much or ever as one sees the names of Basie, Fletcher Henderson or Chick Webb. The truth is, as Gunther Schuller, the noted music historian has noted, Harry James took the jazz trumpet to a new level never before reached in his era or even after. He HAD the blues soul of Louis Armstrong and others but possessed the brilliant and unsurpassed technique of a Rafael Mendez, that earlier giants like Armstrong, Spanier and Beiderbecke could only have dreamed about. Couple that with his turn to hit commercial instrumental-vocal ballads and moderate swing in the early '40's and the subsequent financial rewards, the critics literally turned on Harry James. That is especially disheartening in light of the body of commercial junk Armstrong recorded for literally the last twenty five years of his life and even Miles Davis, with his excursions into so-called jazz rock and fusion, but they never got the critical arrows fired at them as did James.

The truth is that Harry James was the number one icon to all the trumpet stars who rose with him and for decades after, such diverse talents as Maynard Ferguson, Clifford Brown, Doc Severinsen, Freddie Hubbard, Miles Davis, Arturo Sandoval, Wynton Marsallis and dozens of others. The "real" critics like Schuller, Leonard Feather and George Simon all agree that Harry James was truly a one and only jazz-big band-trumpet "super star". I first heard him at age seven when an older cousin played Harry's hit recording of "The Flight Of The Bumblebee" for me. I was dazzled and had my parents start me on the trumpet. He was my idol then and some fifty plus years later still is.

Rating:
Summary: Harry James-one of the greatest trumpters of all time!
Review: This book is something that has long been over due,a look at the life and career of arguably the greatest horn player of the bigband era and of all time.The cover for both the hardcover and paperback edition,along with a new greatest hits CD released around the same time,is taken from the cover of one of Harrys' better 50s Capitol Albums "Harrys Choice".
Often maligned by critics for being schmaltzy and too commercial(a cheap tactic used much too often to put down those they didn't like or that didn't fit their perception of how they thought their music should be played),Harry nevertheless was a master of his instrument and his dedication to his music never wavered.There wasn't a style of music that Harry couldn't play and make it seem effortless and he KNEW what the public wanted to hear.
This book however is not the volume I would have hoped for.
The author knew Harry off and on from the late 1950s until his death but his narrative I found to be lacking a definite rhythym
and progressiveness.He often jumps from story to story and in the telling the timeline often gets muddied and you can find yourself unsure of what year it is he's referring to.
Also much is made of Harrys' drinking and other sordid aspects of his career.While I'm all for getting at the truth of ones' subject matter sometimes this can be just a little overdone these days while other areas may go wanting.For example I would loved to have learned more about his late 40s period(the recordings,his arrangers,the bebop influence,his live dates,etc)instead of the approximately 10 pages he did write with very little of substance to glean from.
Also there is NO discography.His short bibliography(only 13 references!)lists "The Complete List of all Harry James Recordings(1995)", so why wasn't this at least used as a starting point by the author to research and obtain his own discography?
It also contains about 17 pages of photos many of which have been previously published elsewhere.
In conclusion,all in all this book though LONG overdue is a disappointment from a lack of a good narrative style and information standpoint.However it is a good start and one can only hope the next book that appears on Harry James will compliment this one by filling in many of the gaps left by Mr.Levinson.